Swab dispensing package



July 7, 1970 NAGLE ET AL 3,519,123

SWAB DISPENS ING PACKAGE Filed Aug. 19, 1968 United States Patent Oihce 3,519,123 Patented July 7, 1970 3,519,123 SWAB DISPENSING PACKAGE Edward M. Nagle, Valley Stream, and Joseph L. Rich, Merrich, N.Y., assignors to Quality Swabs Inc., Valley Stream, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 753,667 Int. Cl. B65d 65/18, 83/02, /04

US. Cl. 20645.34 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In packaging cotton swabs consisting of an elongated rod-shaped applicator and a wad of cotton covering each end thereof, it is essential that the original sterile condition of the swabs when packaged be maintained until used. In addition, present packaging practices require that the merchandise within the package be visible to the purchaser. One or more swabs are taken from the package at a time during use but it is highly desirable not to touch the remaining swabs nor disorient them.

Previously known packages for swabs initially held the swabs in an oriented position until the package was opened. Thereafter, the individual swabs became jumbled and often fell out of the package when others were extracted. Grasping individual swabs in prior art packaging was difiicult due to the small space between the applicators and the packaging material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The swab dispensing package according to the present invention employs a series of flat transparent plastic trays each having spaced parallel inwardly extending embossed ridges in the bottoms thereof. A series of transverse spaced recesses in the ridges serve to receive the applicators of the swabs and hold them in spaced parallel alignment within the trays. The trays are stacked, one upon the other and placed within a transparent plastic carrier which in turn is slidably received within a boxshaped container open at each end. The carrier is provided with a somewhat V shaped cut out at each side thereof to lend easy access to the individual trays.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawing forming part hereof similar parts have been given the same reference numeral and in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat exploded view of a swab dispensing package according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an end view taken on line 22 in FIG. 1 in the assembled condition,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 in FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows,

FIG. 4 is a view in side elevation of a swab dispensing package according to the present invention showing the manner in which individual swabs can be removed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, indicates a box-like container made of some relatively rigid material such as cardboard. The wrapper is provided with side walls 11, 12, a top 13 and a bottom 14. However, both ends of the wrapper are open.

A carrier 15 having a bottom 16, a front wall 17 and a rear Wall 18 is slidably received within the container 10 as shown in FIG. 4. The carrier 15 is preferably made of some suitable transparent plastic material such as acetate, styrene or the like. The side walls 19 of the carrier 15 are provided with substantially V shaped cut outs 20 which extend from the tops of the front and rear walls 17, 18 and terminate at the bottom 16 at a point approximately one-third of the distance from the front to the rear walls 17, 18. The carrier 15 may be bent downwardy as shown in FIG. 4 along the dashed line 21 (see FIG. 1). 1

A plurality of trays 22 are received within the carrier 15. The trays 22 are vertically stacked as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. A suitable transparent plastic material such as acetate, styrene or nylon may be used to form the trays. Each tray consists of a bottom 23, and upstanding front, rear and side walls 24, 26, 27. The bottom of each tray 22 is embossed as shown at 25 in FIGS. 1 and 3 to provide two parallel upstanding ridges 28 inwardly spaced from the front and rear tray walls 24, 26. The ridges 28 are formed with a series of laterally spaced recesses 29 in front to back axial alignment.

Individual swabs 30 consisting of a rod-like applicator 31 and a wad of cotton 32 at each end thereof are disposed within the trays in parallel orientation. The applicators 31 rest within the recesses 29 in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to maintain swab orientation. The cotton wads extend beyond the ridges 28 in the space between the ridges and the front and rear trays walls 24, 26. As a result of the axial spacing between adjacent recesses 29 and the distance between the ridges 28 as well as the relatively small diameter of the applicators 31, it is quite simple to extract individual swabs from the topmost tray.

After the swabs 30 have been placed within the trays 22 and the trays stacked within the carrier 15, the assembly is slipped within the container 10. A transparent sealing wrapper 33 of cellophane is then placed around the container 10 and carrier 15 to complete the package. It will be apparent that even when sealed, the swabs 30 may be viewed through the ends of the container and carrier walls. The stacked trays 22 prevent the movement of the swabs 30 from their oriented position during shipping or handling so as to maintain their attractive appearance within the package.

When it is desired to extract swabs from the package the wrapper 33 is torn away from the front of the container 10 to expose the front wall 17 of the carrier 15. The top edge of the carrier can then be caught, using the recessed portion 34 of the container 10. The carrier 15 can then be pulled out of the container 10 a distance sufficient to expose the applicators 31 to permit individual swabs 30 to be extracted from the top tray 22. When the desired number of swabs have been used the carrier 15 and its trays can be slid back into the container to cover the remaining swabs in the tray.

If desired, one or more trays 15 may be removed from the carrier 15 either to give more rapid access to the swabs or because they are empty. The front of the carrier 15 will swing downwardly in the manner shown in FIG. 4 for this purpose. The individual trays can then he slid out of or replaced within the carrier 15.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a swab dispensing package which is easy to use, will maintain the swabs in an attractive, accessible condition within the assembly and visible to the purchaser while sealed.

Having thus fully descirbed the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A swab dispensing package comprising a box-like rectangular container, open at each end, a carrier of transparent material slidably received Within the container having a bottom and upstanding front, rear and side walls, a plurality of fiat, swab receiving trays of transparent material having a bottom and upstanding front, rear and side walls, received within the carrier in stacked relationship, spaced upstanding ridges between the tray side walls, normal thereto and inwardly spaced from the front and rear walls, and a plurality of spaced, transverse, swab receiving recesses in the top of said ridges, said swabs being visible through the transparent ends of the package.

2. A package according to claim 1 in which the carrier side walls are formed with substantially V shaped cut outs.

3. A package according to claim 2 in which the cut outs begin where the side walls meet the tops of the front and rear walls and converge at a point at the bottom inwardly spaced one third of the distance between the said front and rear walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,859,050 5/1932 Poppe 20645.33 2,597,810 5/1952 Myers 229-19 2,847,119 8/1958 Padura 206-56 2,988,209 6/1961 Parrilla 206-56 3,246,740 4/1966 Guyer 20-656 3,272,371 9/1966 Weiner -a 229--2.5 3,301,391 1/1967 Guyer 206-56 3,305,084 2/1967 Higgins et a1. 20656 3,325,001 6/1967 Rawlings 20656 WILLIAM T. DIXSON, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

